My internship journey

Hi networkers,

Here’s a little milestone celebration - we hit 300 subscribers! 🎉

Thank you for reading every week, I’m working on stuff behind the scenes (notion template? 👀) to provide even more value moving forward!

With that said, a lot has changed since my first few articles.

So for the many new readers, this article (and the next two) are going to be updated versions of my earlier articles:

🏁 Here’s the route for this week’s run:

🎙️ Topic: My Internship Journey

💡 Key Takeaways

📍 Checkpoints: Networking Events To Stop By

TOPIC
My Internship Journey

Going into university, I didn’t put in that much effort. In fact, I was more of a hermit.

In 1st and 2nd year, I only showed up to campus for class, then dipped for home right after.

I had the presumption that I could solely focus on school, let the 4 years fly by, and then magically convert my degree into a career after.

However, that fantasy faded in my 3rd year when I realized that I needed to actually do something with my degree.

And that meant getting relevant work experience through internships.

But how do you gain that experience from internships if most of them require you to already have some?

My answer to that was my school clubs. I started joining my school’s finance club, leadership club, and any other group where I could learn the necessary skillsets.

Initially, those clubs were stepping stones, but you never really know where opportunities can take you.

Because it was from a leadership club I was in that got me my first internship.

The image above will give you a pretty good idea of how tedious a process it can be. 45 applications, and a lot of rejections.

This was only halfway through the January too, in total I applied to over 100 postings during winter term of 2022.

I was about to give up when I decided to take one last strategy and email the recruiters.

That’s where my school club came into play, my VP from the leadership club knew I was searching and gave me some contacts to reach out to.

I didn’t know it then, but the 3 emails I sent out ended up being more effective then the 100s of applications I sent.

Two of the recruiters replied within the day and invited me onto a Zoom call.

That call with crucial; being able to build a relationship with the recruiters gave me the edge over other students.

I still remember one of them telling me after the call

Imagine the feeling of security hearing that. For months I was unsure if I would have a job in the summer, and a call later, I was pretty much guaranteed to interview for some.

All in all, I applied, told my recruiter, then did the interviews, which went well.

But all of this started by stepping outside my comfort zone, making new connections, and sending some emails.

For how I passed my interviews, check this article! 

Actionable Step

With a new winter term around the corner, aim to get connections on your campus.

Out of your school clubs available, join at least 1 you find interesting!

-Michael

TIP/TOOL OF THE WEEK
Key Takeaways

🖥️ Be Proactive on Campus

In my case, I got my 1st internship by joining my school club. Reach out to your campus groups and get more involved - more open doors will mean more opportunities for you

📫 Fewer resumes, more emails

Prioritize your time sending emails (or LinkedIn messages) to people who are part of the hiring process. This alone will make you stand out and is more effective then just applying to the job

🧡 Make it meaningful

Don’t send the email saying “Hi I’m [X], can I have an interview?” Instead, do your research on the person’s background, ask interesting questions, and end the email with a request to further chat

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